By the time of January comes we have had plenty of time sofa surfing and enjoying a whole array of wonderful foods and indulgences. The side effects of this are often feeling tired, sluggish and perhaps we’ve added a few more festive pounds. The typical approach is to start exercising and eating healthy to help all of this however there is also an element that we don’t always think about which is inflammation.
Inflammation can be a common cause of many health challenges, from our levels of energy and fatigue to chronic health conditions. It is also the reason that many people can struggle losing weight.
Many of our habits, foods that we eat and lack of movement add to inflammatory changes in our bodies. Our bodies have a natural pH level. Being slightly alkaline is where our body works at its best. A large amount of our common lifestyle choices change our pH and tips it more into the acidic scale. When pH is acidic the biggest side-effect is inflammation but it also reduces the ability of the gut to absorb nutrients, it hinders healing repair mechanisms, reduces oxygenation and many more knock on effects.
Inflammation isn’t necessarily bad, it can be very helpful if the body has to heal an injury such as a cut or burn. However when the low-grade inflammation from our lifestyle lasts for months or even years, it can cause health problems. Chronic inflammation is your body’s response to some type of cell damage.
Chronic inflammation symptoms can include:
• Fatigue
• Joint pain
• Muscle aches
• Anxiety, depression
• Frequently falling ill
• Heartburn
• IBS
• Weight gain / difficulty losing weight
• Slow to heal when injured
A fun and simple way of checking what your own pH level is is purchasing simple pH strips that can be used with saliva or urine. Make it a fun competition to see who in the family has the best pH!
You can pick these up cheaply from Amazon:
• A diet high in sugar and refined carbohydrates
• Processed and fast foods
• Alcohol
• Gluten
• Stress
• Smoking
• Being sedentary
• Lack of sleep
• Health conditions such as autoimmune diseases
• Overuse of certain medications including antibiotics, antacids and other medications
As you can see and are probably thinking, that list represents a large portion of the population. It’s very hard in this day and age to avoid some of the items listed above which is also why many of us have a lot more inflammation in our body than we realise.
At the same time there are plenty of ways to help ease inflammation naturally and to create a more alkaline environment for your body.
How to reduce chronic inflammation
• Anti-inflammatory foods are ones that contain omega three fatty acids and antioxidants. These include fatty fish (tuna, salmon, mackerel), nuts and seeds (almonds, flax seeds, chia seeds), cruciferous vegetables (Brussels, Broccoli, cauliflower), dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, rocket), tumeric, apple cider vinegar, bone broths.
• Juicing is also a fantastic and easy way to reduce inflammation and get your daily quota of nutrition. Because fruit is high in sugar, you want to ideally aim for minimum 80% vegetables and only 20% fruit.
• Drink warm water with a fresh slice of lemon or apple cider vinegar.
• Limits on alcohol intake.
• Limit your sugar intake. This can be obvious in snacks, cakes and sweets but it can often be hidden in ready made sauces, ketchup, carbs, processed foods and fruit juices.
• Quit smoking.
• Keep your hydration levels to a max with water. Teas, coffees and high sugar drinks are dehydrating.
• Exercise more regularly. It can be as simple as at 20 to 30 minute walk every day and increasing your level of exercise over time. Lack of movement from sitting at a desk all day and driving in the car for hours all add to the increased level of sedentary lifestyles that we lead.
• Practice stress management techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, journaling, yoga, walks in nature, time away from your phone or computer, spend time doing the things that give you pleasure and importantly, take time to rest.
• Go to bed at a reasonable time and get a good 8 hours sleep when possible and try to avoid blue light from devices at least 1hr before bedtime.
• Don’t forget your Chiropractic adjustments. Adjustments are well-known for helping aches and pains, but on a much deeper level it balances your nervous system back into your parasympathetic activity. This is the part of your nervous system that helps healing and repair and digestion. It is also the part of the nervous system that down regulates and calms inflammation. If you think about it adjustments are basically your natural anti-inflammatory.
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If you know someone who could benefit from this blog post, please share it with them. We offer a complimentary spine check to anyone who is interested in how chiropractic may be able to help them. You can book this online, or by calling 02082951733.
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